Verbal features in oral Fusha performances in Cairo

• Published in: International journal of the sociology of language 2003, Vol.2003 (163), p.27-41
• Main Author: Parkinson, Dilworth B.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Code Switching; Dialects; Egypt; Interviews; Language Usage; Semitic Languages
• ISSN: 0165-2516; 1613-3668
• DOI: 10.1515/ijsl.2003.044

This paper is a study of the verb forms that appeared in a set of oral interviews conducted in standard Arabic in Cairo, Egypt. Although the speakers were clearly attempting to produce standard Arabic, there was much mixing between this & the colloquial form. Instead of the somewhat more typical approach of characterizing a whole form as either standard or colloquial, this paper takes a detailed look at all the elements that go into such a judgment: the presence of ending vowels on the forms, word order, the form of accompanying negative particles, the form of the passive, & a number of phonological features of the verb (the prefix vowel, the stem vowel, infix vowels, the addition of particles like bi- & sa-, & the presence of feminine plural forms). The statistics on these features show that although use of standard forms increases with greater levels of education & the formality of the situation (making them all potent markers of formality & self-identity) in addition to other social factors, it would not be accurate to say that they co-vary. They all have quite distinct patterns that are hard to characterize without using statistics. It is argued that since attempts to functionally characterize the standard-colloquial continuum have not been completely successful, other ways of characterizing the continuum should be used. 4 Tables, 11 References. Adapted from the source document.